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It's mid-season now, so this weekend I'm giving the garden a boost by side dressing everything with some ewe poo and topping it off with fresh pea straw… [I think this is in Australia. It took a moment before I got it that it is sheep poo!]x
May, June, starts feeding time! First let's go over some general considerations and methods of sidedressing, then we'll go through the summer favorites Feeding Schedule, in detail, plant by plant.
Local Conditions Super soil, short summer, no feeding necessary. But if you have a long growing season of heat tolerant varieties like here in SoCal, plants making big leaves and lots of fruits, or plants that are harvested for their leaves, like summer lettuces, they need food! And that all depends on your micro niche where you are growing at home – some spots are hotter than others, maybe get more sun. Your plant produces more or less, needing more or less feeding. If your soil is not the best, feeding more frequently makes sense. And, so, give the best kinds of feeding you can – quality compost you made yourself if possible. If you plant densely, your plants are competing for nutrients, they will likely need more fuel, more frequently!
Varieties make a difference too! Long season indeterminate tomatoes, will likely do better with late season feeding. Early varieties, determinate tomatoes or bush beans, may not need feeding at all. Heavily and continuously producing pole beans make their own Nitrogen, but that may not be quite enough near their end of season or in very poor soil. If they start to slow down, the leaves yellow a bit, try a feed and see if they perk up. Near the end of the season feeding may not help.
Seasonal Timing Classic times to feed are at transplanting, blooming and just after fruit sets. Baby plants need more Nitrogen. They need to grow big, have a strong body to support all that fruit and make leaves! When it comes to blooming and fruiting your plant is beginning to work hard. We don't need a lot of leaves now. Lay back on N and give your plants a good feed of more PK, Phosphorus for blooms and Potassium for disease resistance. NPK needs to be highest in P now.
Later in the season, if/when your plants are looking tired, slowing down, a feed can perk them up, extending their production time. Be sure other factors are well tended. Keep plants weeded so weeds don't siphon off your plants' food, especially when your plants are babies. Separate or thin young plants so they aren't struggling for the same food. Early on use dark mulch to warm your soil, keep the soil moist, prevent light germinating weed seeds from starting. Weed out what does come up. Later in the season lay down reflective mulch like straw so your plants' roots stay cool.
Your plants need adequate soil moisture so their roots can take up nutrients. Water after you feed and keep your soil as moist as that plant needs.
Feeding Methods aka Sidedressing
There are a couple ways to feed. Feeding your soil feeds your plants. Here are some equivalents: One handful of good compost per plant. That is equal to about one tablespoon of 5-10-10 fertilizer. Liquid fertilizer, ie fish emulsion, in your watering can is an easy way to side dress. Compost tea is redundant, since you already put compost in your soil, but a cupful of a mixed tea adds all sorts of things your compost doesn't have.
Foliar feeding garden tea blends is a super enrichment that offers more options of trace factors. Even if proper nutrients are present in the soil, some nutrients cannot be absorbed by plants if the soil pH is too high or too low. Compost corrects soil pH issues and is one of the best ways to maintain the 6.5 ideal. Foliar feeding saves your plants while compost is doing its job. Foliar feeding is an immediate way to revive and stimulate stressed, tired, or diseased plants. If you have an ailing plant, repeated treatments can get your plant up to par soonest! See Teas! Compost, Manure, Worm Castings Brews!
Foliar Feeding Facts per Planet Natural:
• Tests have shown that foliar feeding can be 8 to 10 times more effective than soil feeding.
• Up to 90% of a foliar-fed solution can be found in the roots of a plant within 1-hour of application.
• Foliar supplements are an effective way to compensate for soil deficiencies and poor soil's inability to transfer nutrients to the plant.
If you are container gardening, or have seedlings, use a spray bottle. If you are growing in the ground, get a watering can with a nozzle that rotates to spray UP under your plants' leaves where some pests live. What goes up between the leaves will fall down and do the tops of the leaves at the same time! In other words, foliar feed your whole plant!
Applying granular fertilizers: Scatter 8 inches away from the base of the plant on the side of the row or around the plant to just beyond the plant's drip line to encourage root growth. Apply evenly. Raking the fertilizer into the soil is better than just applying on top of the soil, but rake very gently and not deeply to avoid breaking tiny surface feeder roots.x
Summer Feeding Schedule Details for Your Favorites!
Beans Cucumbers Eggplant Lettuces Melons Peppers
Squash – Summer/Winter Strawberries Tomatoes
Beans make their own Nitrogen, though sometimes not enough when they are in heavy production and it is toward the end of summer. They don't make their own Phosphorous or Potassium. They make a huge plant from a small short set of roots. A light balanced feed may be in order for them to keep their perk and production up as summer goes on.
Yellowing, mildew, white flies, ants and aphids? Pests may set in when a plant is stressed or weakened, but pests also like plants in peak condition! Do Aspirin and powdered milk sprays to up their immune system. Add baking soda to alkalize their leaves for mildew prevention. Best to do these treatments every couple of weeks, after significant rains and before trouble arrives! See more!
Tea mixes are good for improving their general health. Just imagine, with all those leaves, what foliar feeding can do! Same for those cucumbers below the beans in the image!
Some gardeners prepare their cukes, melons, squash, peppers and tomato soil well in advance, in fall for spring! Compost in place – pile on manure, chopped leaves and grass, sprinkle on coffee grounds and kitchen scraps, wood ashes from winter fires, etc. In spring dig a foot square hole, fill with your luscious compost, plant your seed right in that compost! Lasts all season if you live in a short season area, and no compost is wasted where no plant is planted! As long as you get that compost out to just beyond the feeder root area your mature plant will have, it's good.
Some say most granular fertilizers leach from the soil rather quickly due to watering. That is why the instructions say you should reapply periodically throughout the season. Time release pellets do better. But adding organic material to your soil not only adds nutrients, it loosens the soil, attracts worms and other soil building critters and helps your soil retain moisture and nutrients.
Feed your cukes when they first begin to run (form vines and sprawl); again when blossoms set. A big vined short rooted, long fruited variety of cucumber, in a long summer is a heavy feeder, so some gardeners recommend to fertilize once a week! A small fruited, small leaved patio type container cucumber may need little to no feeding.
Since Cucumbers are short rooted, be very careful if you dig in fertilizer or compost. Dig only on one side so as not to break off all the tiny surface feeder roots. Better to add a 1″ layer of compost, some worm castings if you have them, in the planting basin, cover with 1″ of straw and water well. Foliar feeding mixed teas feeds the whole plant with no harm to the roots at all! Cucumbers are quite susceptible to mildews so do the Mildew Mix as well – Powdered Milk, Baking Soda, Aspirin, Soap – add liquid fertilizer if you like, maybe fish/kelp emulsion. Do both the compost and foliar feeding – alternate the Tea with the Mildew Mix every other week or so!
For cucumbers, straw mulch might slow cucumber beetle movement from one plant to another! Plus, it is great shelter for wolf spiders, daddy long legs and other predators. The more spidies the more healthy your garden!x
Exotic Eggplant
Those eggplant beauties need extra compost and a bit of well-rotted manure at planting time. Dig it in! Apply a general purpose fertilizer in the spring when you till the soil. Add additional applications every three to four weeks. Side dress frequently, especially when the plant begins to bloom. Or sidedress with a Nitrogen fertilizer when the plants are half grown and again immediately after harvest of the first fruits. Or, depending on your soil, feed your eggplants 3 weeks after planting and at blossom set. Given sufficient moisture and good food, eggplant thrives in the heat of summer!
Epsom Salts, Sulfur, is a cheap home remedy that can keep plants greener and bushier, enhance production of healthier fruit later in the season, and potentially help reduce blossom-end rot. You could apply 1 tablespoon of granules around each transplant, but research has shown a foliar spray of a solution of 1 tablespoon Epsom salts per gallon of water at transplanting, first flowering, and fruit set is more effective! As a foliar spray, Epsom salts can be taken up quickly by plants, otherwise, it is sometimes hard for the plant to get it out of the soil because of calcium competition.
Sulfur, a key element in plant growth, is critical to production of vitamins, amino acids (therefore protein), and enzymes. Sulfur is probably the oldest known pesticide in current use. It can be used for disease control (e.g., powdery mildews, rusts, leaf blights, and fruit rots), and pests like mites, psyllids and thrips. Sulfur is nontoxic to mammals, but may irritate skin or especially eyes. CAUTIONS! Sulfur has the potential to damage plants in hot (90°F and above), dry weather. It is also incompatible with other pesticides. Do not use sulfur within 20 to 30 days on plants where spray oils have been applied; it reacts with the oils to make a more phytotoxic combination.
This mix is super for tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and roses!x
Cut & Come Again Lettuce is a hard working plant!
It likes water and manure! Regularly. Water just about every day, even twice a day on the hottest or hot windy summer days. Hand scratch in some 1/2″ deep grooves, with one of those little 3 prong scratcher cultivator tools, drizzle chicken manure into the grooves, cover back up and water gently. If your lettuce is planted densely that's going to be a little challenge. A Tea Mix might work better for you. Use the spout of your watering can and get it under the leaves so the soil is moistened. DO NOT do a foliar application of any tea mix that has animal poo in it on any plant you eat the leaves of! If you have space between your plants, and no fish loving predators like raccoons, a fish emulsion/kelp feed is good – just keep it off the leaves.
Feed three weeks after germination, or transplant.
Loose-leaf after second and third cuttings for cut-and-come again crops.
If head lettuce, when the head starts forming.x
Luscious Melons
Unless you are planting mini Melons, container varieties, Melons are a big plant, big leaves, big fruits, on a long vine!
Before planting large melon varieties, add in a little extra compost, and leaf mold, some well rotted manure, cow manure if you can get it.
Fertilize big melons every two to three weeks before blooming starts, using an all-purpose 5-5-5 fertilizer. If you are using mulch, pull it back, sprinkle on some worm castings and add several inches of compost to root areas monthly. Put the mulch back and water it in. It's like giving your plant compost/worm tea as the water and compost/worm juice drizzle down into your soil! Better yet is 2 to 3 days before you sidedress, make a mixed tea sans compost! When the tea is ready, put some spade fork holes in the root zone around your plant. Fill the holes with compost/castings. Foliar feed the tea to your plant and pour tea into the spade fork holes! Of course, the very best is to do both – layers of compost and castings plus the tea and spade fork holes!! Especially sidedress melons when blooming starts and every 6 weeks after.
Another method is to feed when they begin to run; again a week after blossom set; again three weeks later. This probably works well for mini melons too.
Once the first fruit ripens, stop all watering. Too much water at ripening time dilutes the fruit's sugars and ruins the sweet flavor. The melons don't need the water because they develop a deep root system soon after they start to flower. This means you stop fertilizing just before then. Your plants need soil moisture so their roots can take up nutrients, so there is no point in fertilizing after you stop watering.
See also Cucumbers above!x
Fabulous Peppers!
Peppers need VERY RICH SOIL, are heavy feeders! Place compost for water holding capacity, worm castings, rotted manure under them when transplanting. Mix in Maxi Crop, and Island Seed & Feed Landscape Mix if you are in Santa Barbara area. Sandy soils are preferred for the earliest plantings because they warm more rapidly in the spring. Heavier soils can be quite productive, provided they are well drained and irrigated with care.
Epsom Salts! Rather than in the soil, do foliar Epsom Salts! A cheap home remedy that can keep plants greener and bushier, enhance production of healthier fruit later in the season, and potentially help reduce blossom-end rot. You could apply 1 tablespoon of granules around each transplant, but research has shown a foliar spray of a solution of 1 tablespoon Epsom salts + a 1/2 teaspoon of liquid dish soap (Dawn) per gallon of water at transplanting, first flowering, and fruit set is quite effective! As a foliar spray, Epsom salts can be taken up quickly by plants, otherwise, it is sometimes hard for the plant to get it out of the soil because of calcium competition. See Eggplant above
Sidedressing Peppers need fertilizer in small doses, a rich organic fertilizer when blooms appear. If you scratch in some compost, be careful not to damage near-the-surface lateral feeder roots. Liquid chicken manure is high in nitrogen and potassium for heavy feeders like peppers. Big, sweet peppers require a continual source of nutrition. The easiest way to fertilize them is to incorporate gradual-release fertilizer in the ground at planting. Fish-meal pellets, alfalfa pellets or cottonseed meal are all good organic choices. You also can foliar feed plants every week or two with a fish/seaweed soluble fertilizer, spraying the tops and bottoms of leaves, or water the ground with the same mixture.
At least, feed at three weeks after transplant; again after first fruit set.x
Super Squash
Another vining plant, like melons, huge leaves and vine, or patio minis! Big squash plants have the biggest leaves in the garden. They aren't shy about growing 30′ or more!
Summer – Soft, Zucchini types, Chilacayote
We all know how prolific Zucchini is! That is a hard working plant! Some varieties make more fruit than others. Costata Romanesco, in the image, makes a zuke at every leaf join! Huge Chilacayote vines don't quit! Even patio container varieties work their little hearts out!
Feed them when plants are about 6 inches tall; again when they bloom. That's standard, but later in the season, if you still want more fruit, feed them again. If you are so tired of summer squash, never mind.
Like Cucumbers and Melons, summer and winter squash are also susceptible to mildew, so do the Mildew Mix for them too – Powdered Milk, Baking Soda, Aspirin, Soap – add liquid fertilizer if you like, maybe fish/kelp emulsion. Alternate the Tea with the Mildew Mix every other week or so!
See also Cucumbers and Melons above
Winter – Hard, Butternut, Acorn, Pumpkins
Give them a fat start with soil amended with well-rotted manure and compost prior to planting. These babies run all summer long, first making the dense fruits, then hardening the fruits. A healthy plant will make a lot of fruits, an ample supply for all winter long!
Feed them when the vine starts to run; again at blossom set.
See also Cucumbers and Melons abovex
Perfectly adorable image by Tricia at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply
And that's true! At Pilgrim Terrace Community Garden we had a first time gardener that fed exactly that mix to his strawberries every 2 weeks and he was so proud to tell us he was harvesting strawberries by the shoebox full! His patch was not so big, but it was prolific with good sized berries! He later went on to sell his fine famed strawberries at Farmers' Markets!
Another heavy feeder, making zillions of tomatoes! If your plant is indeterminate, it will make fruit all summer long!
Before planting add plenty of well-rotted manure/compost.
AFTER planting, add a weak solution of complete fertilizer or fish emulsion to the soil around them. Continue to feed them two to three weeks after transplant; blossom time, again before first picking; again two weeks after first picking. Blossom time and after, go light on nitrogen or you will have a lot of leaf, no fruit!
Leaves curled lengthwise with patches of brown on them? Wilts or blights? Foliar feed with potent Tea Mix!!! When plant surfaces are occupied by beneficial microbes, there simply is no room for pathogens! The plant will suffer little or no blight, mold, fungus or wilt! That's a huge claim! But even if it doesn't entirely work, your plant will likely have a much improved existence for a longer period of time. Beneficial microbes compete with disease causing microbes. Go tigers! The live microbes enhance your soil and in turn, up the immune system of your plants.
If your plant is diseased or pest infested, you may need to apply your mixed tea every five to seven days. Otherwise, make your tea applications every two weeks until your plants start to flower. We want our plants to make fruit then, not foliage!
A dramatic treatment requiring less work than making tea is bleach once a week. It works! See about it!
This Table will help you save time! See at a glance which plants to feed at the same time with the same food. Copy and print, cover with clear waterproof tape, put it on your tool bucket for quick reference! See timing details above, plant by plant!
With any foliar feeds remember to add that 1/2 teaspoon of dish soap, surfactant, so the feed will 'stick' to your plant!
Stand back and take a look at your garden. See who's the slowest, behind in production, lacks perk, and who looks vibrant, reaching for the sky! Grab a barrow of compost, make a super tea mix, go for the gusto! You could even note your feed date, then mark down about when to do it again!
To another super plentiful and most joyful summer!
Updated annually
Love your Mother! Plant bird & bee food! Think grey water! Grow organic! Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!
The Green Bean Connection started as correspondence for the Santa Barbara CA USA Pilgrim Terrace Community Garden. All three of Santa Barbara's community gardens are very coastal. During late spring/summer we are often in a fog belt/marine layer most years, locally referred to as the May grays, June glooms and August fogusts. Keep that in mind compared to the microclimate niche where your veggie garden is.


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Ajax and REST, Part 1
Advantages of the Ajax/REST architectural style for immersive Web applications
In just 15 years, the World Wide Web has grown from a researcher's experiment to one of the technological pillars of the modern world. Originally invented to let people easily publish and link to information, the Web has also grown into a viable platform for software applications. But as applications have become more immersive by using rich application models and generating personalized content, their architectures have increasingly violated Representational State Transfer (REST), the Web's architectural style. These violations tend to decrease application scalability and increase system complexity.
The emerging Ajax Web client architectural style lets immersive Web applications achieve harmony with the REST architectural style. They can enjoy REST's desirable properties while eliminating the undesirable properties experienced when an application violates REST's principles. This article explains how and why Ajax and REST succeed together for immersive Web applications.
REST: The architecture of the Web
Although the World Wide Web was built upon decades of related research, its effective birth date was December 1990, when Tim Berners-Lee completed working prototypes of the Web's major components: Unified Resource Identifiers (URI), HTTP, HTML, browser, and server. The explosive adoption of the Web exceeded all of its pioneers' hopes. In his famous thesis (see Related topics), Roy Fielding describes the mood of the time:
"Although elated by its success, the Internet developer community became concerned that the rapid growth in the Web's usage, along with some poor network characteristics of early HTTP, would quickly outpace the capacity of the Internet infrastructure and lead to a general collapse."
Fielding and others reexamined the Web's architecture and its adequacy to support massive expansion and use. The tangible result of this reexamination consisted of updates to important standards such as URI and HTTP. An intangible but meaningful result of the reexamination was the identification of a new architectural style for hypermedia applications, which Fielding named Representational State Transfer (REST). Fielding asserted that components deployed on the Web that accepted and aligned with the REST's design constraints would enjoy the Web's desirable properties. He also warned that Web components that diverged from the REST principles would not enjoy these benefits.
In the early days, most Web sites and simple Web applications naturally aligned with REST's principles. But as Web applications became more immersive, Web application architectures diverged from REST's principles and suffered the consequences. The problems of immersive server-side Web architectures are a bit tricky to deconstruct because a decade of using this architectural style has fostered the belief that these problems are intrinsic to Web application architecture. They're not. Rather, they are specifically caused by the server-side Web application architectural style. To break through these prejudices, it's helpful to look back at the architectural progression that led to the current state of affairs. I'll explain why many assumptions we've accepted are no longer valid now that creating Ajax applications is commercially viable.
A brief history of Web applications
Berners-Lee created the Web as a means for researchers to share documents across wide distances and to create simple links between documents to speed the dissemination of knowledge and ideas. However, the URI standard's architectural characteristics quickly enabled the sharing of more than static documents.
Web sites serving static documents
The earliest content on the Web consisted of static HTML documents with links to other static documents, as illustrated in Figure 1:
Figure 1. A Web site serving static documents.
REST makes retrieving static documents incredibly efficient and scalable because they can be easily cached based on the URI and last-modified date. Soon developers would move beyond static documents and support serving dynamic content.
Early dynamic Web applications
Berners-Lee and others designed the URI standard to support universally unique identification of a resource while allowing its representation (HTML, text, and so on) to vary based on a negotiation between a Web client (typically a Web browser) and a Web server. Because URI differentiates between resource identification and the resource's underlying storage mechanism, Web developers could create programs that inspect a URI's syntax and generate a document on the fly, combining predefined UI elements and dynamically retrieved data, often from a relational database (see Figure 2). Though the documents are generated, their caching characteristics are identical to those of static files.
Figure 2. A Web site serving database records embedded in HTML template code
A simple example of these early applications is a university directory Web application. The application typically works like this:
- A user enters a name (for example,
Bill Higgins) in a Web form and clicks a Submit button.
- The form creates a URI based on the name entered and requests the
content of this URI from the server (for example,
GET http://psu.edu/Directory/Bill+Higgins).
- The server examines the URI and generates a Web page with the student's phone number and address.
- The server sends the generated page back to the user's browser.
An important property of this interaction is that it's idempotent, meaning that the output would be identical for an identical request, unless the underlying resource had changed (for example, if Bill changed his phone number). This means that a browser or proxy server can cache the Bill Higgins document locally and, if the underlying resource hasn't changed, retrieve the resource from the local cache rather than the remote server. This approach improves user-perceived responsiveness and increases overall system efficiency and scalability. These early dynamic Web applications worked well and brought a vast amount of information to users' fingertips.
Immersive Web applications
The next generation of Web applications aimed to be highly immersive, providing personalized content and rich application models. Over the next 10 years, Web developers succeeded in creating these immersive applications. A quintessential example is the Amazon.com e-commerce site. As a user interacts with the Amazon Web application, it creates complex custom pages that recommend particular products, show browsing history, and display the cost of items placed in the user's shopping cart.
Immersive server-side applications and REST
Immersive Web applications are certainly useful, but the server-side immersive Web application style is in fundamental disharmony with REST architectural principles. Specifically, it violates a key REST constraint and fails to take advantage of one of REST's most important advantages, thereby spawning a new set of problems.
Violating the "stateless server" constraint
REST's "client-stateless-server" constraint forbids session state on the server. Designing within this constraint promotes the system properties of visibility, reliability, and scalability. But immersive server-side Web applications wish to provide a great deal of personalization to a single user, so they must choose between two designs. The first is to send a massive amount of state information with each client request, so that each request is context-complete and the server can remain stateless. A second, ostensibly simpler, solution favored by application developers and middleware vendors alike is to send a simple user identity token and associate this token with a "user session" object on the server side (see Figure 3). The second design directly violates the client-stateless-server constraint. It certainly enables desirable user functionality (especially personalization), but it places tremendous strain on the architecture.
Figure 3. An immersive server-side Web application containing large amounts of server-side session state
Java™ Servlet's HttpSession API provides an example of this strain.
HttpSession lets you associate session state with a particular user. This
API seems deceptively simple to novice developers. Indeed, it appears that
you can store any object in HttpSession and pull it out without ever
coding any special lookup logic yourself. But as you start putting more
objects in HttpSession, you start to notice that your application server
uses more and more memory and processing resources. Soon you decide that
you need to deploy your application in a clustered environment to help
with growing resource needs. Then you realize that for HttpSession to work
in a clustered environment, each object must implement Java's
Serializable interface so that session data can
be transmitted between servers in a clustered environment. Then you must
decide whether or not your application server should persist session data
in the case of a shutdown/restart cycle. Soon you begin to question
whether violating the client-stateless-server constraint was such a good
idea after all. (Actually, many developers are ignorant of this
Making distributed caching impossible
A second severe consequence of the immersive server-side Web application is that it's practically impossible to take advantage of REST's first-class support for resource caching. To quote Fielding: "The advantage of adding cache constraints is that they have the potential to partially or completely eliminate some interactions, improving efficiency, scalability, and user perceived performance by reducing the average latency of a series of interactions. The trade-off, however, is that a cache can decrease reliability if stale data within the cache differs significantly from the data that would have been obtained had the request been sent directly to the server."
You can look at an immersive Web application as almost a living entity, continually changing based on new input that the user provides, new input provided by others, and new back-end data. Because the server must generate each page based on multiple users' interactions with the application, it's practically impossible to generate the same document twice. As a consequence, a Web browser or proxy servers can't cache server resources.
Several solutions are available to deal with the problems of resources not being cacheable. One is to create server-side caches of fine-grained resources so that the server can build a coarse-grained page from preassembled parts rather than from basic elements (HTML and data). But the problem remains: every request results in nontrivial server processing, hurting scalability and, potentially, user-perceived response time.
Another consequence of not being able to serve cacheable resources is that extremely dynamic Web applications must explicitly forbid search engines and other "bots" from making requests, because each request involves expensive processing; in a RESTful application you'd serve up a resource once to each bot and send a simple "Not-modified" message on subsequent bot visits.
But why centralize so much resource consumption on an overburdened server, when in theory you could distribute processing and memory needs to clients? The simple answer is that given traditional Web browser constraints, this wasn't feasible (see Client-side processing without Ajax). But the Ajax architectural style lets developers distribute processing and state requirements to the client. Read on to learn why immersive applications that choose an Ajax-style architecture can regain harmony with REST and enjoy its benefits.
Ajax and REST
As you saw earlier, traditional server-side Web applications combine presentation and dynamic data elements on the server and return fully formed HTML documents to the browser. Ajax applications are different in that the majority of their UI and application logic resides within the browser; the browser-based application code fetches new server data as necessary and weaves this data into the current page (see Related topics for Jesse James Garrett's seminal article on Ajax). The location of presentation and data binding might seem like an implementation detail, but this difference leads to completely different architectural styles.
Enjoying a stateful Web client
People often describe Ajax applications as Web pages that don't need to perform a full page refresh on every click. This description is accurate, but the underlying motivation is that full page refreshes are distracting and detract from an enjoyable, immersive user experience. Full page refreshes are even nastier from an architectural point of view in that they eliminate the option of storing application state in the client, which in turn results in design decisions that prevent applications from taking advantage of many of the Web's strongest architectural design points.
The fact that Ajax lets you interact with a server without a full refresh puts the option of a stateful client back on the table. This has profound implications for the architectural possibilities for dynamic immersive Web applications: Because application resource and data resource binding is shifted to the client side, these applications can enjoy the best of both worlds -- the dynamic, personalized user experience we expect of immersive Web applications and the simple, scalable architecture we expect from RESTful applications.
Caching the Ajax engine
Imagine that Amazon.com was completely reimplemented as a pure Ajax application -- a single Web page that fetches all of its data dynamically from the server. (Amazon might not want to do this for good business reasons, but that's a matter for another article.) Because a large amount of the UI and application logic now runs in the client rather than the server, the initial page load needs to download Amazon's Ajax "engine," as described by Garrett. This engine contains a bunch of application logic (implemented as JavaScript code) and some UI scaffolding that is populated later with business data fetched asynchronously from the server (see Figure 4):
Figure 4. An immersive Ajax application
An interesting characteristic of the Ajax engine is that although it contains a great deal of application logic and presentation framework elements, if designed properly, it contains no business data or personalized content. Application and presentation are frozen at deployment time. In a typical Web environment, application resources might change only every one to six months. This means that an Ajax engine that segregates application resources and data resources is highly cacheable.
Because the Ajax application engine is just a file, it's also proxyable. On a large corporate intranet, only a single employee might ever download a particular version of the application's Ajax engine, and everyone else just picks up a cached copy from the intranet gateway.
So with regard to application resources, a well-designed Ajax application engine aligns with REST principles and provides significant scalability advantages versus server-side Web applications.
Caching Ajax data
Okay, users browse to an Ajax Web site and load the Ajax application engine, preferably from the browser's cache or, if not, from a local proxy server. What about the business data? Because the application logic and state reside and execute on the browser, the application's interaction with the server becomes very different from that of a traditional Web application. Instead of fetching amalgamated pages of content, it simply needs to fetch business data.
Going back to the Amazon.com example, imagine that you click a link to view information about a book on design patterns. In Amazon.com's current application, the link click action sends a variety of information identifying the requested resource. It also sends various session-state artifacts that let the server create a new page that includes prior session state (such as recently viewed items), personalization information (such as "you purchased this book in 1999"), and the actual business resource itself. The application is very dynamic and highly personalized -- but not cacheable and not natural scalable (though as Amazon demonstrates, these architectural problems can be overcome with millions of dollars of infrastructure engineering). Now consider this action in the (imaginary) Ajax version of the application. No processing needs to occur with regard to "recently viewed items." This is simply information already present in the page that won't go away when you click on a link. Two requests will likely be related to the design patterns book:
0201633612is the design pattern book's ISBN number)
The first hypothetical request returns information about the book (author, title, descriptions, and so on); it contains no user-specific data. The absence of user-specific data means that as more users request the same resource, it is likely that they'll retrieve cached versions of it from intermediate nodes on the Internet rather than from the originating server. This characteristic reduces server and overall network load. The second request, on the other hand, contains user-specific information (Bill Higgins' purchase history for this book). Because this data includes personalized information, only a single user should ever successfully retrieve and cache the data from this URI. Although this personalized data doesn't have the scalable characteristics of the nonpersonalized data, the important point is that this information is retrieved from a distinct URL and therefore has the positive characteristic that it doesn't interfere with the caching of other application and data resources that are cacheable.
Ajax and robustness
Another benefit of the Ajax architectural style is the ability to deal easily with server failure. As I mentioned before, server-side Web applications with immersive user experiences tend to hold large amounts of user session state on the server. If a server fails, the session state goes away and users experience odd browser behavior ("Why am I back to the home page? And where are the items in my shopping cart?"). In an Ajax application with a stateful client and stateless services, a server crash/restart can be completely transparent to the user because the server crash can't affect session state, which lives in the user's browser; a stateless service's behavior is idempotent and determined solely by the content of user requests.
Promise and problems
For the class of Web applications that I call immersive Web applications, well-designed Ajax/REST applications are far superior to traditional server-wide Web applications with regard to user experience, responsiveness, and scalability. However, an architectural style's run-time characteristics aren't the only determinant of success for a software project and Web application. There are some tough non-run-time problems with creating Ajax/REST applications, including determining how to adopt Ajax for your application (if at all), problems of large-scale JavaScript development, cultural issues, and packaging problems. In Part 2, I'll discuss different adoption options and organizational considerations to improve your chances for success with Ajax.
I'd like to thank my colleagues Chris Mitchell, Josh Staiger, Pat Mueller, Scott Rich, and Simon Archer their helpful technical feedback on this article. I'd also like to thank James Governor and Steve O'Grady of the Redmonk analyst firm, who originally challenged me to consider REST-style Web services.
Downloadable resources
Related topics
- "Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures" (Roy Fielding, University of California - Irvine, 2000): Fielding's doctoral dissertation describes the architectural constraints of REST.
- Weaving the Web (Tim Berners-Lee, HarperCollins, 2000): Berners-Lee tells the story of the design and evolution of the World Wide Web.
- All Things Distributed: Werner Vogels' weblog on building scalable and robust distributed systems (Werner Vogels, Amazon.com): Amazon's CTO probably knows much more about scalability than the author admittedly does, but Amazon's Web application happens to be one of the best known immersive server-side Web apps on the planet, so it makes a great example.
- The Dojo Toolkit: The Dojo Toolkit is an open source Ajax framework that provides higher-level programming abstractions and normalizes browser incompatibilities.


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Just the Facts: Republicans Want to End Medicare
Katie Grant, Daniel Reilly, 202-225-3130
After this week's stunning electoral upset in Western New York, Republicans have gone into overdrive trying to defend their misguided budget plan to end Medicare and more than double costs for seniors.
But the facts are not on their side. Here is a breakdown of the most egregious GOP claims:
FICTION: Republicans say their budget "saves" Medicare. [Rep. Paul Ryan, 05/25/11]
FACT: The Republican budget ENDS Medicare.
Wall Street Journal: Medicare Cost Would Rise for Many Under Ryan Plan
"The House Republican plan for overhauling Medicare would fundamentally change how the federal government pays for health care, starting a decade from now, likely resulting in higher out-of-pocket costs and greater limits to coverage for many Americans… House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's solution is to end the current Medicare program for people born in 1957 and after." [04/06/11]
Washington Post: GOP Offers a 2012 Plan: Less For Health Care
"House Republicans announced a…budget blueprint that would privatize Medicare for future retirees, cut spending on Medicaid and other domestic programs, and offer sharply lower tax rates to corporations and the wealthy… Starting in 2022, Ryan also would end Medicare as an open-ended entitlement for new retirees and begin slowly raising the age of eligibility from 65 to 67." [04/06/11]
FICTION: Republicans say that "if you are 55 years of age or above, we're not changing your Medicare benefits at all" [Rep. Paul Ryan, 5/25/11]
FACT: The Republican budget cuts current benefits and increases costs for current seniors.
- It reopens the prescription drug donut hole, increasing costs for the estimated 4 million seniors who fall into the coverage gap by as much as $44 billion over the next decade, including $2.2 billion in 2012 alone.
- It imposes co-pays on currently free preventive services
- It eliminates the annual wellness visit benefit, forcing at least one million seniors and people with disabilities to pay over $110 million more for this critical service in 2012.
FICTION: Republicans say their budget will "strengthen Medicare for future generations" [Rep. Paul Ryan, 05/25/11]
FACT: The Republican budget more than doubles costs for future generations.
- According to the CBO, in 2022 the average senior will see their costs increase by more than $6000.
FICTION: Republicans say that seniors will have "the same kind of system that Members of Congress enjoy today" [Rep. Paul Ryan, 05/25/11]
FACT: The Republican version of Medicare is NOTHING like what federal employees receive.
- The nonpartisan PolitiFact found that the Republican Medicare plan is "fundamentally different" than plan Members of Congress receive.
- The Washington Post's Fact Checker has found this claim "false and misleading"
FICTION: Republicans say that their budget protects seniors from a "panel of 15 unelected bureaucrats in charge of rationing…" [Rep. Paul Ryan, 5/25/11, ]
FACT: Republicans are using false claims of rationing to try to hide their cost shifts and gutting of Medicare.
- Factcheck.org has debunked Republican rationing claims as "false" and cites it as an example of the GOP engaging in "Mediscare" tactics.


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This is one that I haven't tried yet, although I have all the ingredients. It just sounds yummy, like something I would have for dessert. Here is the recipe:
Vanilla Rose
- 1 oz Bacardi Vanila
- 1/2 oz Strawberry Liqueur (or strawberry puree)
- Splash of grenadine
- 1/2 oz Cream
- Garnish: Cherry
Photo and recipe courtesy of Cocktail Times, which is an excellent resource for adventurous drinkers.


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HAVANA - Colombian military officers and leftist guerrillas met face-to-face on Friday for the first time in their 50-year war, starting talks on a ceasefire that would take hold should the government and the rebels reach a comprehensive peace agreement.
The government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the Marxist-inspired Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been engaged in peace talks in Cuba for nearly two years,reaching three partial agreements on their five-point agenda.
The two sides recently opened talks on another key point, that of reparations for war victims, and began hearing testimony from those who have lost loved ones or been displaced by Latin America's longest-running conflict, which has killed more than 200,000 people since 1964.
Enacting ceasefire
But peace negotiators decided to get a head start on what is expected to be the most difficult agreement: how to end the conflict and enact a definitive, bilateral ceasefire.
Active-duty officers had never before sat down with members of the FARC to talk peace.
"It is undoubtedly important that for the first time representatives of the active armed forces ... and the FARC have sat at the table under equal conditions," Ivan Marquez, the rebels' lead negotiator, told reporters after the meeting.
"Now is the time for us to get rid of our [military] uniforms," he said.
General Javier Florez, chief of the general staff of the Colombian armed forces, led a special subcommittee that also included officers of the army, air force, navy and police.
Florez, 57, participated in one of the Colombian military's most successful operations against the FARC, in September 2010, when FARC military chief Jorge Briceño was killed. He was also involved in operations that killed top FARC leader Alfonso Cano in 2011 and No. 2 military leader Raul Reyes in 2008.
On Friday, he sat at the same table with rebel commanders led by Marquez.
Difficult wranglings
The FARC has called for a bilateral ceasefire during peace talks, but Santos rejected that, citing a previous attempt at peace talks from 1999 to 2002 when the FARC used the ceasefire to rearm.
"I repeat, so that we are absolutely clear, we are not negotiating a ceasefire for right now," government representative Humberto de la Calle told reporters. "The subcommittee is limited to preparing possible future mechanisms that will only enter in force once we reach a final agreement."
The FARC has laid down its arms for a number of temporary unilateral ceasefires, for example during the run-up to elections this year. But the Colombian army and rebels have engaged in periodic combat throughout the 21 months of peace talks.
Two weeks ago, the center-right Santos was sworn in for a second four-year term after a hard-fought re-election in which right-wing challenger Oscar Zuluaga criticized the talks and threatened to end them if elected.


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Regular price
One pair of MilkmaidMumma beautiful super soft nursing pads.
Throughout your breastfeeding journey breasts can leak milk in between feeds and during the night. Our nursing pads provide comfort and protection during this time.
Our reusable nursing pads are made from three layers of quality fabrics with a white soft bamboo terry layer that goes against the skin. Bamboo gets softer with each wash and acts to wick moisture, is breathable and has antibacterial properties to help reduce the risk of infections such as mastitis. The middle layer of Microfibre absorbs your milk and the outer patterned layer of PUL fabric has a waterproof backing to protect you from leaking through.
All our pads are machine washable and measure 11cm in diameter to fit most sizes. We recommend changing your nursing pads frequently to keep your skin healthy and dry.


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AXIS P3363-VE Network Camera
Superb, light-sensitive and vandal-resistant outdoor fixed dome with remote focus and zoom
Discontinued product. Online support only.Please see the support documentation for further information.
Recommended replacement: AXIS P3375-VE
Note: Check the recommended replacement product data sheet for full specification
- Lightfinder technology
- P-Iris control
- Multiple H.264 streams and Motion JPEG video streams
- Easy installation with remote focus and zoom
- Outdoor-ready, IP66 and NEMA 4X rating
High-performance video
The light-sensitive, outdoor-ready AXIS P3363-VE fixed dome offers exceptional image quality in H.264 and Motion JPEG. It delivers 30 fps in all resolutions up to SVGA.
The camera also supports digital pan/tilt/zoom and multi-view streaming, where the full view and several areas cropped from the full view can be streamed simultaneously. The remote zoom and pixel counter features ensure that the camera's angle of view is optimized for the area to be monitored and the required pixel resolution.
Lightfinder technology and P-iris control
AXIS P3363-VE integrates Axis' Lightfinder technology. The outstanding light sensitivity, with maintained colors even in very poor lighting conditions, is obtained by a combination of Axis' expertise in image processing, system-on-chip development and selection of the best optical components.
The camera also supports P-Iris control, allowing the camera to precisely control the position of the iris. The iris opening is optimized for depth of field, lens resolution and light inlet, resulting in superb image quality with optimal sharpness.
Vandal-resistant and weather-proof installations
AXIS P3363-VE with its weather-proof and vandal-resistant casing, is a fixed dome perfectly adapted for harsh environments. It operates in extreme temperatures from -40° to 55° C (-40° to 131 °F), powered by standard Power over Ethernet (IEEE 802.3af) only. It is the perfect solution for video surveillance systems in areas such as airports, city surveillance, banking, school and university campuses.
All software isn't compatible with all products, please refer to the data sheets for compatibility information.
AXIS Companion
The market's easiest video surveillance solution optimized for small systems
AXIS Camera Station
The ideal solution to meet the needs for active surveillance of mid-sized installations
Security as a service
A full range of cloud-based surveillance and security services from Axis partners
Specialized software from Axis partners
Customized and specialized solutions from Axis partners, for any system complexity and size
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Two national experts in military law warn that a recent move by Fort Carson to cover rape cases with a cloak of secrecy raises red flags.
In recent weeks, Fort Carson has refused to release documents charging soldiers with rape and sexual assault, most recently in the case of Spc. Alexander Aguilar. The change came without explanation and reverses more than a decade of routine release of similar documents. Charge sheets are the formal document that accuses a soldier of a crime and specifies what they allegedly did in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Hiding those charge sheets from public view damages the reputation of the military's court system, said Eugene Fidell, the president emeritus of the National Institute of Military Justice who now teaches military law at Yale University.
"The normal reaction by modern American observers is that somebody is trying to hide something," Fidell said. "Why would you do that?"
Fidell contends that as court documents, the charge sheets must legally be released.
An Army spokesman at the Pentagon, Lt. Col. Justin Platt, said the Army has no standard on the release of charge sheets in courts-martial.
"That's always been up to the commander," he said.
Fort Carson, asked about its reasons for secrecy, didn't respond Thursday.
Many commanders lean toward secrecy, even while that secrecy harms the defendant's right to a public trial and the public's right to observe courts, said Victor Hansen, associate dean of the New England School of Law in Boston and a former Army lawyer.
"It's baffling to me why the military continues to act like these things are secretive and are not subject to public scrutiny," Hansen said.
The military has faced congressional scrutiny and public scandal over a rise in sexual assaults in the ranks. A Pentagon report estimated that as many as 26,000 troops were sexually assaulted in 2012.
The increase in sexual assaults and concerns over how the military has handled sexual assault cases has driven a push to take authority away from commanders who oversee the military's justice system.
In June, a House committee approved proposed changes to military law, which would increase penalties for rape and take away a commander's authority to dismiss court-martial verdicts in sexual assault cases.
Last week, Fort Carson Spc. Blake Hart was sentenced to 16 months behind bars and a bad conduct discharge for "indecent liberties with a child." The post hasn't released the charge sheet in that case, despite repeated requests.
Aguilar is accused of violating the military's sexual assault laws and is awaiting trial. The military won't release details on the case.
Now a new wave of sex crime investigations are underway at Fort Carson.
Post officials on Wednesday confirmed that "several" soldiers were under investigation for sexual misconduct with girls. The post declined to release details on when, where or how the incidents took place. The Army also wouldn't say how many soldiers or underage females were involved in the case.
The Colorado Springs Police Department confirmed it is investigating a case involving a soldier accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
The Army's Criminal Investigation Command confirmed it's involved in the investigation but also refused to release details.
Fidell said he's concerned about how the Fort Carson is maintaining secrecy long after investigations are complete and cases are headed to trial. He contends that courts-martial should be held to the same standards of openness as other federal courts, which routinely release documents in cases.
"I think it's a self-inflicted wound on the part of the military," he said.
Hansen said that the military justice system is generally fair and effective. But secrecy, especially in sexual assault cases, creates the impression that the military justice system has something to hide, he said.
"The default position the military takes of circling the wagons and not disclosing anything doesn't make sense," Hansen said.


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Posts Tagged 'On the Road'
On The Road: Weihai Part IV
In the last few days here in Weihai I've had time to visit a zoo, eat dinner with university administrators, give a presentation on student activities at MSU and go to a KTV to sing my heart out.
Let's get the official (literally) business out of the way first. Part of a MSU delegation trip to Shandong University at Weihai is to have a reception and meet with university administrators. So, on this particular evening we met with the president, the secretary a dean and professor. We were all presented with gifts and we reciprocated, then on to dinner. Here's where the fun begins. First, to my knowledge professional/business banquets in China involve significant consumption of high proof alcohol, and there are some "rules" to the drinking. Picture a round table with assigned seats. The party host sits directly across from the entrance of the room. The second host sits directly across the table. The role of the first host is to welcome guests and give three toasts. The role of the second host to my knowledge, as told to me by our intrepid leader Issac, is to get drunk. Now on to the guests (us MSU folks) The guests, who sit next to the first and second host, historically should do as the hosts do, or at least give it the college try. And who gets the seat next to the second (drunk) host???? Me. He was a great man who spoke little English, but I gathered he got his graduate degrees in the Koreas, South and North (interesting). I also gathered he has quite the tolerance for high proof alcohol. The traditional drink for these dinners is a "white wine" but to us is more like fire water. (tested and proven, burns a blue flame) 54 percent alcohol, translates into 108 proof. Three glasses translate into a sweaty headache, a fire in the stomach and smidge of blurred vision. But, we made it. By the end of the dinner the second host referred to me as his little brother and gave me a hug (He stands to my left in the photo next to Sarah Clark). Good Times.
Believe it or not the firewater buzz didn't lead to a night out singing karaoke, but a day at the zoo and visiting the easternmost coastal point in northern China did. You can see more about our zoo trip and beautiful photos on Dana's blog. Anyway, our group had some busy days and wanted to blow off some steam, and we did at a family- oriented KTV. I write family oriented, because a quick Google search of KTV's in China sometimes brings up some questionable photos and stories. So, here are a couple of things to note. KTV's are individual singing rooms you rent for an hour or two where you and a group of friends shut the door, sit on couches drink various beverages eat some popcorn and sing as loudly and obnoxiously as you'd like. If you find yourself in a Chinese KTV be aware there are an array of American pop songs, but not all are translated correctly into karaoke versions, and the music videos don't make much sense. For example, we sang "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" and the video depicted a series of grand prix car wrecks. Or, John Lennon's "Imagine" had some very beautiful shots of vines, cherry trees, children crying, soccer matches and a frying pan. But we did have fun, with our popcorn, drinks and friends, new and old.
Tonight was the last presentation for our delegation regarding MSU. Dana and I gave our presentations on student life and organizations to a room full of SDUW students. They went well. But, honestly the best part comes at the end. Students flock to the floor of the presentation room to chat with us about all things American or Murray State. I spoke with a delightful girl whose American name is Amy. Amy asked if our group was going out to party tonight. I said no, and then returned the question. What about you? She says… "No, partying isn't too popular here." I suppose the campus-wide curfew puts a damper on late night gallivanting. Anyway, I asked what they do on the weekends when the curfew is extended to 11:30 p.m. Amy provided no real response, because she was bursting with excitement to tell me that she and her friends had a huge weekend planned. Was it windsurfing on the beach? Was it going on a road trip to visit another school? Was it an off campus party? NOPE. Amy and her friends were going to a mountain two hours away to pick cherries. Not the exhilarating beach, coastal schoolgirl's response I expected. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised when the hottest seller on campus is not an ice cream cone, soda, or candy bar, but huge slices of melon on a stick. Anyway, it just goes to show the sheer innocence these students possess. It is absolutely amazing. When is the last time you got uncontrollably excited about picking cherries with your friends? When is the last time you took time enjoy the company of people without any outside distracting influence? I've tried to hone in on what makes these people so accommodating and genuine, and I don't think I have the complete answer, but I think Amy gave me a tidbit of it. What a great experience.


text:
Dog food reviews
Member List
Dry Dog Foods
1 Star Dry Dog Food
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Judges Choice Country Pursuit Maintenance Maize Free
Date of last review
Fri December 30, 2005
Recommended By
Average Price
Average Rating
No recommendations
None indicated
None indicated
Digestible Energy 14.88 mj/kg
Metabolic energy 333 Kcals/100g
Wheat, barley, meat and marrowbone meal, wheatfeed, chicken meat meal (minimum 4%), sugar beet pulp, chicken fat, hipro soya, fish meal, stabilised flax seed, minerals and vitamins, digest BHA and BHT as permitted EEC antioxidants.
Typical analysis:
Oil E/E 7.35%
Oil A/H 8.22%
Protein 20.24%
Fibre 3.46%
Ash 6.43%
Vitamin A 15,339.50 iu/kg
Vitamin D3 1,819.20 iu/kg
Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol) 71.03 mg/kg
Vitamin K 2.14 mg/kg
Vitamin B1 3.77 mg/kg
Vitamin B2 5.39 mg/kg
Vitamin B6 3.94 mcg/kg
Post a Reply
Registered: October 2005
Posts: 3953
Review Date:
Fri December 30, 2005
Would you recommend the product?
| Price you paid?:
Not Indicated
| Rating:
Inadequate meat products for feeding a canine, use of low quality grains and meat products, use of carcinogenic chemical preservatives.
This food receives a 1-star rating simply because there is nothing lower.
The main ingredients in this food are grains, the principle one of which is wheat. The use of wheat is a significant negative: wheat is believed to be the number one cause of allergy problems in dog food. Wheat occurs a second time as wheatfeed, which is a waste product (think floorsweepings) of the flour milling process. Wheatfeed is highly undigestible and is commonly treated with hydrolysis in a sodium citrate solution in order to improve digestibility of what would otherwise be (and still should be) a waste product. Barley is a decent grain, but dogs are not made to eat foods based on grains. They are carnivores and should be fed foods based on meat.
The third ingredient is meat and marrowbone meal. This has no official definition, but the AAFCO definition of meat meal is the rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. A major problem with ingredients defined simply as meat is that it is impossible to identify source or quality, and such ingredients are likely to be of extremely low quality. Chicken meal is a good ingredient, but it makes up only 4% of the food!
Beet pulp is filler and a controversial ingredient it is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food. There are less controversial products around if additional fibre is required.
This food also contains soy. Soy is another controversial ingredient in dog food and we prefer not to see it used. Soy is a poor quality source of protein in dog food, and a common cause of allergy problems. Some believe that it is the number 1 cause of food allergies in dogs (outstripping even wheat).
Fish meal is the 9th ingredient and another meat product in the food. We note that the manufacturer does not claim to use ethoxyquin-free sources (ethoxyquin is a chemical preservative commonly added to fish destined for meal, and is believed to be carcinogenic).
Digest is another low quality ingredient, for which the AAFCO definition is dried material resulting from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and undecomposed animal tissue. The animal tissue used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed.
BHA and BHT are chemical preservatives. These are known to be carcinogenic and have been banned from use in human foods in most countries for around 50 years. We would never consider feeding our pets on foods containing those chemicals.
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text:
When we reviewed Acer's $199 C7 Chromebook, we didn't think it was perfect, but we were willing to overlook many minor flaws in the face of its $199 asking price. Today, Slashgear unearthed an upgraded model—there's an Acer product page that lists a $299 version of the C7 with a larger battery, 4GB of RAM instead of 2GB, and a 500GB hard drive instead of a 320GB model.
Of these three upgraded specs, there's only one that really impacts the core features of a Chromebook: the battery. Indeed, the four-ish hour battery life was one of the worst things about the C7, and this boosted model promises about six hours instead. However, neither the RAM nor the hard drive will really benefit Chrome OS, which is mostly happy with 2GB of RAM and doesn't require more than a few gigabytes of disk space. Add this to the fact that the $199 C7 is extremely easy to open up and upgrade yourself and it makes even less sense, though doing so will void the laptop's warranty.
The upgraded model seems to nullify the key selling point of the C7: it takes something that is most notable for being the cheapest Chromebook Google sells and makes it the third cheapest Chromebook Google sells, after both the $199 model and Samsung's $249 ARM Chromebook. It might be useful if you'd like to install an alternate OS like ChrUbuntu without voiding your warranty by opening the $199 model up to upgrade it, but otherwise our recommendation is to stick to the cheap one.


text:
Book A Test Drive for Renault KADJAR HATCHBACK 1.3 TCE Iconic 5dr EDC
Please fill in your details and we will complete your test drive booking.
1.3 TCE Iconic 5dr EDC
Whilst we cannot guarantee that we will be able to provide you with the exact specification and colour of the vehicle that you would like to test drive, if you let us know what factors are most important to you and we will do our very best.
Vehicle shown is for illustration purposes only and may not match the test drive vehicle.


text:
I have added the Caramel code generator to my public repository at google code.
Please note that this is very very alpha and not actually useful yet.
Before it can be used I need to finish the template support and fully implement the DB meta data importer.
But if you are interested in this kind of stuff and want to help out building it, please let me know.


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Rather than acting as product providers, the wealth management industry is positioning itself as a source of financial solutions and advice, according to PwC's 2013 Global Private Banking and Wealth Management Survey, released late Wednesday.
PwC surveyed 200 participants from 51 countries for the report. The majority of respondents were from Europe and the Middle East, but 18% were from North and South America. This is the 20th anniversary of the biennial survey.
PwC identified five areas where wealth management firms need to enact transformative change to be successful.
1. Markets and Clients
While emerging markets are growing faster than developed markets, PwC found that even within that sector, newly emerging markets are experiencing more robust growth than more "established" emerging markets.
Steve Crosby (right), Americas leader for PwC's private banking and wealth management team, said this "multi-speed market" means "different markets are growing, maturing and changing at different rates. In many cases, what used to be a correspondent institution may now be a local competitor."
As the demographics of a firm's client base change, wealth management firms need to stay "agile" in responding to their needs. For example, while women comprise a third of the client base, just 8% of firms have a specific strategy to meet those clients' needs.
Furthermore, the third most common reason clients leave a firm is that they are next-generation investors who want to replace their parents' advisor, the report found.
Crosby said that over time, firms have unintentionally "created models that seem to focus on the patriarch" and don't include surviving spouses, children or charitable foundations that their clients would like to leave their assets with. "As a result, assets are flying out the door," Crosby said. "If they address all the stakeholders, they would have a higher retention rate and they wouldn't have to keep reselling the same" plan to the same stakeholders.
Crosby said firms need to communicate with next-generation clients the way they want to be communicated with. "The next generation is what we call 'analog abhorrent,'" he said. "You have Facebook, you have Twitter, you have LinkedIn: You have different ways of communicating with the next generation. Most of the firms that are out there haven't quite gotten up to speed yet." 2. Risk and Regulation
The increasing cost of regulation is a significant challenge facing the wealth management industry, the report found. In fact, global respondents estimated that regulatory costs will consume 7% of their annual revenue in the next two years, compared with 5% today. Respondents from the Americas predicted an even higher increase to 9% of their annual revenue.
Furthermore, PwC noted that for global respondents, compliance replaced maintaining a positive reputation as the top risk management concern.
"The problem with regulation in most cases, aside from the tonnage, is the nature of how it is promulgated," Crosby said, calling regulation "incomplete." When regulations are passed they frequently take effect in several phases. "It's hard to architect technology and business and solutions and people and everything else."
Another problem with some rules is that they "require a single view of the customer. To get to a single view of the customer, people need to be able to focus on the data. They need to see everything they've got globally."
3. Human Capital
Following the financial crisis, the wealth management industry took a major hit in clients' eyes, and PwC found repairing that trust is a critical priority. Firm leaders are working to align incentives with ethical behavior and are "setting the tone from the top."
Currently, firms want client relationship managers who can identify and respond to client needs, bring in new clients, communicate well and respond quickly to clients. Over the next two years, firms looking for talent will expect managers to be knowledgeable about in-house and external products, and have strong cross-selling skills, respondents said.
The report also found low levels of confidence among respondents about managers' skills in several areas. Most were confident about their abilities regarding mainstream investments, banking and financial planning, but tax and retirement planning were trouble spots. 4. Operations and Technology
Almost half of respondents said they were investing in core processes, while 18% are still working with legacy systems. Those core processes are helping firms stay commercially successful as well as meet regulatory requirements.
In fact, the report found the top technology priority is to implement systems that address regulatory requirements.
"They're going to have to have standards, reviews and control assessments, and in some cases they're going to have to start using advanced technology in more of a clean-room environment," Crosby said of how firms need to use technology to address regulations. As an example of "clean-room environment," Crosby described a technology solution that enables firms to assign what types of files can be shared by email and triggers an alarm when an unpermitted file type is attached.
"That's the emerging best practice, and you have to check that stuff constantly," Crosby said. "There is no substitute for vigilance."
Currently, telephone, in-person meetings and email are the primary ways firms communicate with their clients, but respondents expect use of those methods will fall in the next two years. Mobile technology, video conferencing and social networks will be used to a greater extent over the same time period.
5. Products and Services
The survey found asset management and similar services generated the majority of revenues for respondents. They anticipated that in the future wealthy clients will likely demand holistic financial planning and will pay for actively managed portfolios, not transactions.
Currently, most respondents are working to improve product performance, but over the next two years, improving transparency and information will define their product approach.
Two-thirds of respondents said they offer a mix of in-house and third-party products, and they expect that will increase to over three-quarters in two years.
"Most of these folks are running thin on headcount. Budgets are short. Good people are scarce. How do they manage all this change?" Crosby asked. "In the middle of all this we're shifting from what I would call legacy transaction processing environment to more of a digital and data-centric environment." Managers who were having trouble keeping up before have to contend with a new reality, he said. "Fortunately or unfortunately, it's only going to accelerate potential acquisitions and changes in the market."
Check out Speaking at Face Value: To Build Ties With Employees, Speak Honestly by Angie Herbers on AdvisorOne.


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2007 Jaguar XK
The outgoing Jaguar sports car, the XK8, is 10 years old, and in its later years, had become a patchwork as new technologies like satellite radio, navigation and airbags had to be adapted to it. Its V8 horsepower number began with a 2 instead of a 3, putting it way behind the competition. There were new safety and emissions goals to be met. So they threw out the XK8 and replaced it with a brand new car from the ground up, the first aluminum-chassis sports car in Jaguar's six decades of production. They've changed the name, too, in the process, from XK-8 to XK 4.2.
The all-new 2007 Jaguar XK 4.2 is the successor to every XK dating back to the first one in 1948 and, as such, it is Jaguar's franchise player. The XK's main competitors are the Mercedes-Benz SL, the BMW 650, and the Cadillac XLR.
The new XK is a tasty combination of Jaguar style, traditional British luxury car touches like wood, leather, and quietness, with every system in and under the car updated and improved to meet that very serious competition. It's design, while very, very pretty, is derivative of all previous generations since the XK-E, with some Aston Martin and Ford design cues thrown in (Jaguar's Scottish chief designer Ian Callum designed both the Aston Martin DB-7 and DB-9 sports cars).
As with the last generation, the new 2007 Jaguar XK will come as both a coupe and a convertible, now with a disappearing top that hides behind the second row of seats under a steel cover, instead of piled up under a tonneau cover.
Riding on a much longer wheelbase, the 2007 XK offers substantially more interior space than the 2006 model. The new seats are more comfortable, the gauges are nicer and everything works better. Benefiting from the lightweight chassis, the 4.2-liter V8 propels the XK from 0 to 60 mph in less than six seconds, Jaguar says. Its rigid chassis and the latest CATS adaptive suspension provides a smooth ride and demonic cornering, coupled with accurate steering and powerful brakes.
Model Lineup
The 2007 Jaguar XK 4.2 coupe ($74,835) and convertible ($80,835) come with a 300-horsepower version of the old standby AJ V8 engine, now combined with a very flexible six-speed automatic transmission. The familiar J-gate shifter has finally been replaced by a new floor shifter that offers a Sport mode, plus steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters for the first time on any Jaguar model.
Also available is the high-performance XKR coupe ($85,835) and convertible ($91,835).
Standard equipment includes DVD navigation, keyless entry and keyless start, a seven-inch video display, Bluetooth capability, cruise control, a 6-CD/MP3 player, rear park assist, cruise control, and electronic parking brake.
Options include adaptive cruise control with a forward-alert system that sounds an audible warning, full soft leather upholstery, and a 520-watt Alpine sound system with eight speakers.
Safety features include front and side air bags, ABS with EBD, traction control, dynamic stability control with a track feature, and electronic rollover mitigation. If the convertible should roll over, two rollover bars come blasting up through the rear glass to stabilize the rear of the compartment, a special feature not shared with the coupe.
The Jaguar XK has been a design icon since 1948, and the new version looks very much the part. The overhangs are shorter, but the signature voluptuousness is in every panel on the car, and the tires and wheels are more prominent in the design.
The stowaway power convertible top added some width to the rear end of the car to accommodate the steel top cover, but both the coupe and the convertible are stunning cars. We don't need those new front fender badges to tell us that it's a Jaguar, and the taillamps are a bit busy, but otherwise the coupe and convertible are a pair of lovely shapes, carefully adorned.
Most of what is underneath came directly from the all-aluminum-chassis XJ sedan introduced two years ago, and that's a good thing, leading to huge weight losses with concomitant gains in stiffness, strength and performance.
Interior Features
The Jaguar XK has been re-engineered for 2007, and part of that involved stretching the wheelbase by almost six and a half inches to afford much more interior space.
Inside the XK, everything is roomier. The seats have more travel, and there's more room for humans in all directions. Everything inside is new, from the new shifter with a Sport slot to the new dashboard and instrument layout, to the standard touch-screen navigation system.
The seats have undergone a major redesign and they are much the better for it, with longer cushions, more power adjustments, more enveloping bolsters, and generally more long-distance comfort built in. They're upholstered in Jaguar's traditional leather, of course, and set off by the buyer's choice of walnut veneer, poplar veneer, or aluminum trim panels on the doors and dashboard.
The instruments have brand new and more engaging graphics, the layout is better, and the switchgear makes more sense now because of the opportunity to redesign it.
The XK was built up from the idea of a 2+2 roadster. The coupe came after the more complex disappearing hard top design, also as a 2+2. We appreciate what Jaguar is trying to do here, but the rear compartment simply doesn't have room for the average American occupant. Purses, backpacks, briefcases and satchels, maybe, but not real people. At least not very large people, and not for long distances.
All the controls and switches make sense, especially if you're used to Jaguars. Things work pretty much the same way as the previous XK8 and XKR. The new navigation system is big, bright, colorful, clear and useful with a minimum of fuss.
None of the other coupes and roadsters in this small luxury sports car class are exactly swimming in cargo space, and the XK doesn't move the needle here, either, with 10.6 cubic feet in the coupe, 10.0 cubic feet in the convertible with the top up, and only 7 cubic feet with the top stowed.
Dealing with the XK, working its works, discovering it system by system, was a pleasure. No surprises, no weirdness. We did find the A-pillar to be thicker than we'd like, interfering with our vision in some driving situations, but other than that quibble, the car was quick, quiet, comfortable and easy to use, with strong kudos for the touch-screen design and interface.
Driving Impressions
The 300-horsepower engine in the new Jaguar XK 4.2, newly outfitted with variable valve timing and other improvements for both power and fuel efficiency, wouldn't be competitive with other sports cars in this price range if the new car had a steel body and 700 pounds more weight. But with only the 3600-pound body and chassis to carry around, the engine is pretty darn good. It sounds especially mean and nasty at full throttle because of some extra valves and plumbing in the exhaust system, especially with the convertible top stowed. In sixth gear cruising, though, it's a near-inaudible pussycat.
The new six-speed automatic with manual control, a Sport mode, and shifter paddles on the steering wheel, is about three levels of sportiness better than the outgoing transmission and the old, dreaded J-gate shifter. The new twin-clutch transmission allows extremely quick, positive shifts between gears, with little or no lurching on upshifts and a nice, growly throttle blip on downshifts. This is an improvement on the similar ZF transmission Ford uses in the Aston Martin DB9, now with better hardware and software. It can sense aggressive driving and adapt accordingly, limiting upshifts in long corners in Sport mode, and giving instant multiple downshifts when conditions are right.
The engine/transmission combination is good for about 5.9-second 0-60 times and 14.4-second quarter-mile sprints, according to Jaguar, with an electronic speed limit of 155 mph. Interpolated European fuel numbers are comparable to EPA numbers of 16 miles per gallon city, and 25 miles per gallon highway, thus no gas-guzzler tax to be paid.
Hugely stiffer than the outgoing car on the basis of its riveted and bonded aluminum construction, almost 50 percent stiffer in bending and much stiffer in torsion, the XK offers the kind of silky smooth ride and demonic cornering that great sports cars have always had. It's helped by the completely retuned CATS adaptive suspension system with faster-acting, smarter shock absorbers that work with the engine and transmission to immediately react to the situation and driver's intention. The tuning is roughly 10 percent stiffer in the front and 4 percent stiffer in the rear than the old car. There are several assist modes to the CATS system, including completely off, for track days.
Another byproduct of the stiff chassis is the steering accuracy. It's without question the tightest, heftiest, and quickest Jaguar power steering in history, but nowhere near the point of skittishness. Solid, stable, and planted. The traction control system now features a Trac mode that keeps everything on but allows a higher threshold of yaw, letting the car get sideways in corners for those owners who go to Jaguar Club track days.
The new XK models are fitted with a choice of 18-, 19-, or 20-inch wheels and tires. Base tires are Continental P245/45ZR18s front and P275/40ZR18s rear. Optional Dunlop SP Sport 01 asymmetric high-performance tires are fitted on XK models with 19-inch wheels, 245/40ZR-19 tires on the front and 275/35R19s on the rear. Optional Dunlop SP Sport Maxx ultra-performance tires are 255/35ZR20s for the front and 285/30ZR20s for the rear.
The XK's new ABS brakes are much larger than those on the previous model, and much more powerful, considering the reduced weight of the car, with braking starting at the very top of pedal travel, where we like it. No fade whatsoever after a long downhill switchback workout.
Although the weights and balances between the coupe and the convertible versions, which we drove back-to-back, are close, there's really no discernable difference in the way they drive, except that the convertible with the top down generates more sound in the cockpit and more admiring glances from the other drivers than the coupe.
The all-new 2007 Jaguar XK is an absolutely gorgeous sports car for today that will appeal broadly to successful men and women looking for the latest in sleek affordability. It has a couple of styling and design items we'd change instantly if we bought one, like the badges on the front fenders, but otherwise, we are simply smitten by this beautiful new Jag and the way it drives down the road, changing direction like the big cat it's named for, but coddling the couple of adventurers inside like an English nanny.
NewCarTestDrive.com correspondent Jim McCraw filed this story from Cape Town, Republic of South Africa.
|Model Line Overview
|Model lineup:
|Jaguar XK 4.2 Coupe ($74,835); Convertible ($80,835)
|300-hp 4.2-liter V8
|6-speed automatic with manual control
|Safety equipment (standard):
|electronic stability control, ABS, EBD; frontal airbags, side-impact airbags, curtain airbags
|Safety equipment (optional):
|Basic warranty:
|4 years/50,000 miles
|Assembled in:
|Coventry, England
|Specifications As Tested
|Model tested (MSPR):
|Jaguar XK 4.2 convertible ($80,835)
|Standard equipment:
|air conditioning, DVD navigation, power steering, power disc brakes, power windows, power locks, console, cruise control, message center, trip computer, fog lamps
|Options as tested (MSPR):
|Destination charge:
|Gas guzzler tax:
|Price as tested (MSPR):
|rear-wheel drive
|4.2-liter dohc 32-valve V8
|Horsepower (lb.-ft @ rpm):
|300 @ 6000
|Torque (lb.-ft @ rpm):
|310 @ 4100
|6-speed automatic
|EPA fuel economy, city/hwy:
|16/25 mpg
|108.3 in.
|188.6/81.5/52.3 in.
|Track, f/r:
|61.4/62.9 in.
|Turning circle:
|33.4 ft.
|Seating Capacity:
|Head/hip/leg room, f:
|38.3/56.5/45.1 in.
|Head/hip/leg room, m:
|Head/hip/leg room, r:
|Cargo volume:
|10.6 cu. ft.
|Towing capacity:
|Suspension, f:
|independent, coil springs, electronic variable shock absorbers
|Suspension, r:
|independent, coil springs, electronic variable shock absorbers
|Ground clearance:
|4.7 in.
|Curb weigth:
|3671 lbs.
|P245/45ZR-18 front, P275/40-ZR-18 rear
|Brakes, f/r:
|disc/disc with ABS, EBD, traction control, yaw control
|Fuel capacity:
|18.8 gal.
|Unless otherwise indicated, specifications refer to test vehicle. All prices are manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSPR) effective as of February 3, 2006.Prices do not include manufacturer's destination and delivery charges. N/A: Information not available or not applicable. Manufacturer Info Sources: 800-4jaguar - www.jaguar.com
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In August 2007, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine received a 5-year renewal award from the NIH's National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities to continue its Center of Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach, Research on Health Disparities, and Training (Project EXPORT). Objectives of the Bronx CREED Center grant program are summarized in its title: to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities through research and education. The Center's activities include developing and supporting research to reduce health disparities and educating and training of future researchers, health professionals, and students on health disparities.
Again, Bronx CREED will continue to sponsor its Health Disparities Faculty Development Fellowship for two years. The Fellow will enroll in the Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP) and complete its Master's degree program in Clinical Research Methods with full tuition paid by Bronx CREED (or offer a compelling research training alternative). The Fellow will participate in reviewing grant applications to the Bronx CREED, moderating educational seminars, such as the Friday Forum, and will be invited to grantsmanship, teaching portfolio, and other faculty development workshops.
Each applicant must have:
To apply for the Fellowship beginning in July 2011, please submit to the address provided your curriculum vitae, two letters of support addressing your potential for a career in clinical research and academic medicine, and a completed BRONX CREED application.
Prospective applicants must also complete the CRTP Application Form. You can call the CRTP Office (718) 430-2080) or visit the CRTP website for more information.
Please contact the Training Core Director for any questions regarding this announcement. Signed copies of all application materials must be received by MARCH 1, 2011.
Janice Barnhart, MD, MSDirector, Bronx CREED Research Training CoreBelfer Building—Room 1306A1300 Morris Park Avenue Bronx, NY 10461 Telephone: 718.430.2317 Fax: email@example.com
BxCREED Fellowship Announcement
Application in Word
Application in PDF